have been struggling to animate more than one character in the scene
so the duplicated rig precomp is placed into a new comp for animation. then i select the duplicated precomp and use the extract controllers tool
the controllers appear but i cannot animate the character from them
how should the controllers be extracted?

Why can't you animate the character with the extracted controllers? Do they just don't work?
It should work, each controller should control their counterparts in the precomposition and let you animate your character. The connection between them is made using some null objects called "locators" (not always, they may not be needed), and expressions. After having extracted the controllers, you can go inside the precomposition and check if there are expressions on all the properties of the controllers.

Also, make sure you do not have two compositions sharing the same name in your project, this can break expressions.

Why can't you animate the character with the extracted controllers? Do they just don't work?
It should work, each controller should control their counterparts in the precomposition and let you animate your character. The connection between them is made using some null objects called "locators" (not always, they may not be needed), and expressions. After having extracted the controllers, you can go inside the precomposition and check if there are expressions on all the properties of the controllers.

Also, make sure you do not have two compositions sharing the same name in your project, this can break expressions.

Thank you so much for the instant reply!!
Can't animate the character with the extracted controllers though I very much want to...Have I messed up with the expressions? It shouldn't be the name problem as each comp has unique name. You will save my day if you can check my file below

Here is the animation comp:

The attachment Screen Shot 2018-10-02 at 6.08.57 PM.png is no longer available

Indeed, there's a bug somewhere; the expressions which should be in the rigged precomp are not there...

Would you mind sending me the aep as it is just before trying to extract the controllers so I can test it and see what's going on? I have an update of Duik which will be available in a few days with a lot of bug fixes, I could include this fix in it

Indeed, there's a bug somewhere; the expressions which should be in the rigged precomp are not there...

Would you mind sending me the aep as it is just before trying to extract the controllers so I can test it and see what's going on? I have an update of Duik which will be available in a few days with a lot of bug fixes, I could include this fix in it

So happy to get your reply:D
Have sent the project file to you via direct message
Thank you so much for the help!!!